Mastering

A new business model based around the Internet promises to make professional mastering more convenient — and much more affordable. But is on-line mastering a real alternative or a false economy? We put the UK's leading services to the test.

Last month we discussed how to prepare mixes so that they are ready for the mastering engineer. This month, we look inside the mastering room during the processing of an album, to see what kind of equipment is used, and the sort of processes that are applied to finish the tracks to the required standard.

If you're looking to release a record that you have produced at home, it's a good idea to have the product professionally mastered, but it is not always obvious if a mix is adequately finished. We find out how to prepare your songs for the mastering house, and what the engineer can do for you.

If you want your mixes to go to 11, Waves' new mastering limiter might be the weapon you need.

I'm considering buying an Alesis ML9600 Mastering CD Recorder — but I was wondering if you would recommend this unit? Or should I keep it all based on the 'quiet' PC using my humble 32x speed CD recorder?

Frank Zappa produced a vast amount of recorded material during his career, often pushing both his musicians and the technology of the day to extremes. The task of editing, mixing and archiving these recordings is being undertaken by his son Dweezil, with the help of some cutting-edge computing hardware.

Many home recordists hope to perfect their productions by undertaking their own mastering on their studio computer. However, few seem to achieve the classy results they're after. So how much can you realistically achieve by going it alone, and what techniques will deliver the highest-quality results?

I've read that the SACD format uses a 1-bit word length throughout. Why is this the case, and how does it yield higher audio quality than standard 16-bit CDs?

Harbal enables you to shape the EQ of your mastered mixes to match any reference track, and by compensating for the loudness changes involved in doing so, it provides a truly neutral means of comparing the original and the treated master.

An established studio in the USA is planning to rely on software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet. Are they crazy, or do Linux-based recording applications offer a real alternative to the established Windows and Mac packages?

The biggest music technology manufacturer in the world has stuck to hardware — until now. Do Yamaha's first plug-in processors have what it takes to compete with the big names in Mac and Windows software?

I had four tracks transferred to vinyl and told the pressing plant to do any necessary EQ'ing required. I got the test pressings back and found them to be very harsh in the upper frequencies when compared to my CD master. Should I get my tracks professionally mastered for vinyl next time?

Recording and mixing an album's worth of tracks is a big enough challenge, but turning the results into a consistent-sounding CD requires specialist tools and skills. The former, at least, are now available to anyone with a Windows PC...

Last month we showed you how to go about recording a complete (jazz) band to stereo on location. Now let's examine the ways in which you can compile and process the different takes to make up a coherent whole.

As one of the senior engineers at New York's famous Sterling Sound, Chris Gehringer has mastered some of the biggest hip-hop and R&B hits of recent years.

We provide some tips for making your masters sound as loud as commercial tracks, without sacrificing too much sonic quality along the way.

Twenty years after Steve Levine first produced Culture Club, he reveals how he has been using a new generation of digital tools to restore those original recordings.

Many home and project studio owners are interested in mastering as a way to add that professional sheen to their recordings. The newest way to do this is with iZotope's DirectX mastering tool for PC.

Among his many credits as an engineer, producer, programmer and artist, Jon Astley is perhaps best known for his award-winning work remastering classic albums from the likes of The Who, Abba and George Harrison.

The final stage of production - turning your mixes into a finished CD - requires some specialised tools. Martin Walker runs through the options and considers how best to set up and use the necessary PC software.

TC Electronic have upgraded their already impressive Finalizer mastering processor to include a number of new features, most notably 96kHz capability. Hugh Robjohns finds out if it's still at the top of the tree.